A Ditzy Duo
by MegaTJ
Summary: Derpy Hooves never expected what she thought was an interest in the stars to actually be a crush on the pony who introduced her to them. Can she and her clumsiness survive an even clumsier trip through love?
1. The Mailmare and the Astronomer

The Mailmare and the Astronomer

"Are you sure you're up for the trip?" asked a tall stallion in concern. The Earth Pony removed his blue and red postage cap almost as if he were respecting the dead. A mare, more than half of his age and height nodded vigorously. "In this wind?" Another nod. Apparently, his most faithful mailmare wasn't going to back down from this job.

She saluted, simultaneously pushing her blonde mane from her eyes. "I can handle it, Chief, you bet!"

He sighed in futility. His mouth formed into a gentle smile, and he finally handed the Pegasus her mailbag containing a single parcel within. "I don't know why, but I know you can. Just be extra careful, Derpy."

Her lips parted to reveal white teeth underneath. She placed the bag's strap over her shoulder and tightened it. "I will, Chief!" With that, she left the small postage building for the night, clipping the doorframe with her flank.

Her boss watched as the wind picked her up like a leaf. He rushed out in a panic just in time to see her spin and take off into the torrent of rushing air. "Luna, watch over her."

Derpy fought against the wind with all of her might. She had gone out into much worse before, so this was just a walk in the park. Usually she wouldn't be too concerned with making such a flight for a single delivery, especially on a windy night. Those usually waited until morning when she could see. This particular package was very important, both to the postal service for which she worked and to her personally. Rarely did her schedule ever come into contact with mail going to the Northern Observatory, so it stood to reason she would jump at every chance to get anything up there.

Nopony knew why she only visited when she had to bring the mail. It was just easier to go when one had free time. Sure, there were ponies who asked, but they only got the simple reply of, "Just cuz." There were even times when she had gone out during thunderstorms, adding to everypony's confusion. How she even got there in one piece was a mystery that only she had the means to solve.

A secret lay in the skies above Ponyville she exploited everytime she flew in bad weather. Derpy climbed higher and higher until she found the strip of atmosphere that no cloud or weather condition ever crossed. Ponyville was but a spec when she reached it tonight, having rose with the cool air of the season. Now that the wind was both below and above her, she could enjoy a relaxing flight to the north mountain range.

The moon illuminated the ground below. Its silver light made everything possible to see, even after the lights of Ponyville were no longer visible. She glided northward, flapping occasionally along the way to keep out of the wind. Equestria slowly grew upwards with the elevation until eventually the Pegasus was even with the terrain. Mountains began to pass by. The farther into the wilderness she went, the more they became. Soon a forest of mountains were shielding the valleys from the wind. Finally able to, she climbed with excitement. She was nearly there.

The landscape kept rising and rising like a gigantic ramp into the sky until the largest mountain ever discovered in Equestria shot past the moon itself. Fortunately, Derpy didn't have to go that high. Her destination sat on a large, protected cliff only about a quarter of the way up. The Northern Observatory stood silent in the night. Most of it was darkened, except for the small speck of a window in the dome of its tower. She had her target now. Derpy immediately tucked her wings and streamed right to the window.

Inside the lantern-lit room worked a stallion at a table. He was wide awake despite the late hours. A pair of glasses held in place by his void blue nose helped adjust the vision of his cerulean eyes. He concentrated on the chart in front of him. Around it were hundreds of calculations and several instruments astronomers just like himself used for mapping stars. Every once in a while, he would add a dot here and a question mark there before placing his quill behind his ear.

He glanced out of his window and huffed. The clouds were still out there, taunting him with their opaque properties. One of the notes he had jotted down just before the overcast hit gave him an idea. He quickly grabbed his quill. In his rush, several papers and an empty inkwell hit the floor. He worked through the ditzy mistake, having not even noticed there was now a mess to clean up. The stallion sighed happily. Three hundred stars mapped and it wasn't even midnight. However, the satisfaction was short lived. He was out of calculations and the only way he could get more was to observe the sky, something he would have done in a heartbeat if the clouds weren't blocking his view.

"I'll just go to bed now, I think. Yes, bed—sleep—is essential. It is early. Maybe too early. I might wake up during the day." He shook his head in disgust at the thought. "I'll sleep later. Later is good. Later is best."

The astronomer leaned back in his chair, and promptly fell over. He was too distracted by his thoughts to even notice. The ceiling offered him no assistance with his formulas, so he closed his eyes to ignore it. Outside, he heard the distant howling of the northern winds over the mountain summits. He wondered if it was an omen. Just whether it was an omen, not so much about good or bad. His life was bland right now in the absence of a clear sky. His mind soon wandered off to use his eyelids as mediums to paint detailed pictures of stars, far away and near.

Too enwrapped in his mental art the day…night-dreaming colt failed to hear the faint sound of tapping coming from the other side of the massive observatory. The knocks soon stopped after the mare delivering them noticed the colt inside asleep on the floor. She tried pushing the window inwards, only she gave it too much and tumbled inside onto a table full of observation equipment. Stunned, she lay there in a daze. As she tried to collect her bearings, they only managed to become more jumbled when her weight combined with that of the many instruments around her caused the table's legs to buckle. She was sent, in a louder crash and forward roll, to the floor.

The loud clatter pulled the nearly-asleep colt from the depths of nodding off. He slowly climbed to his hooves just in time to see Derpy frantically rolling among the telescopes, sextants, and filters in an attempt to get off the floor. Curiously, he strolled across the observatory. She still hadn't manage to get up when he arrived, though it wouldn't matter if she did because he would have had the same reaction. He tilted his head to the side and studied her. He blinked three times across the span of twenty seconds, almost not believing she was flailing her hooves around on his marble floor. Sometime later, which could very well have been hours, he decided to lend a helping hoof by first speaking a very helpful word.

"Hello", he uttered calmly.

Derpy stopped immediately. She turned her head up to see the upside-down Pegasus standing over her. She rolled over, finally centering her gravity in her wings and not everywhere else. The mare struggled to focus both eyes on him even though one was enough for now. She smiled. "Hi!" Her voice echoed around the room. The colt followed it until it faded away. Once again looking at her he extended his hoof helpfully.

"Here", he offered simply.

"Thanks!" Derpy grabbed his hoof and jerked herself up, almost knocking the glasses from his face.

Before he could fully regain his posture, Derpy presented him with the package she dutifully delivered. He took it, eying the name Star Gazer in blue ink on the top. He examine every aspect of the small box: size, weight, shape, and the sound the contents made when he shook it. Satisfied, he opened it. Packing peanuts flew in all directions in his wake of crazy digging until he reached the bottom, where a small lens lay. Here he observed the lens, taking much longer now to make sure that the specifications he ordered were applied. Star Gazer looked back up to see Derpy had taken an interest in something besides him.

"Thank you, Derpy." He flew the box to his lit table. "Should any other pony attempted the delivery, I might have not gotten this tonight, or even ever."

Derpy giggled. "Welcome, Star!"

He grinned. Only she called him that. Well, she was the only one he allowed. Usually ponies just called him "Gazer", for he found "Star" too feminine for his tastes. "I take it you want to stay a while, like always?"

She nodded. "I wanna see the stars!"

At this he frowned. "Forgive me Derpy, but I can't show you tonight. The sky. It's overcast and my telescope is merely a reflector, not a radio array. I cannot see through the clouds."

Her disappointment only lasted for three-eighths of a second before she bolted out of the window. He followed her, stopping at the window to observe her moving the clouds from over the observatory to random places below the cliff. Star chuckled. Only Derpy would upset Cloudsdale's forecasts so they could see the stars beyond. It didn't take long before she was back in the observatory, breathing heavy despite the light work. She beamed happily, hoping she did good. She did very well from what she could tell from her friend's grateful applause.

"Astronomical, Derpy Hooves! This deserves a treat! How does…a few blueberry muffins sound?"

"Muffins!? Where!?" She zipped around the observatory at blinding speeds.

"I'll go get them, if you don't mind waiting here for a few minutes."

Derpy slipped on the floor, sliding right up to him on her back. She nodded embarrassingly. He left the semispherical room quickly, knowing what would happen should he be so much as a hair late after mentioning muffins to the gray Pegasus. While he was gone, Derpy got back to her hooves. A snack to go along with the treat of gazing at the stars was more than she could ask for even if she got both every single time she visited.

Star Gazer returned to find Derpy in the seat of his gigantic telescope, either having forgot about the muffins, which was unlikely, or waiting to eat while she looked through it. Whichever it was, he made his way up the few steps to the second level of the observatory. He set the tray of muffins down on the table at the far end of the circular platform that held the telescope. He created a gentle breeze with the help of his wings, wafting the smell of the muffins to the mare. She jumped rolled out of the elevated chair and dashed for the platter. Star let her dig in. He wasn't much in the mood for the baked goods and had an observatory dome to open anyway.

At the other end of the walkable surface of the platform, Star turned a large crank, which in turned rotated hundreds of gears. Derpy listened to the moaning of the ceiling as its doors split away from the end of the telescope it housed. The process of exposing them to the night sky took only a few seconds before a deafening _BOOM_ reverberated through the ponies themselves.

"I've discovered a few new stars since the last time you had peered through the telescope", he said from the vacant chair. "If you're ready, I can show you them now."

"Okay!" The gray Pegasus finished off the last muffin that managed to survive the last few minutes and rushed across to sit in the chair. She slid into the padded seat below the giant reflecting telescope. She looked through the lens, but didn't see anything. To her left, Star was too busy setting the telescope to help her out. Thinking that she was looking at empty sky, she looked into it again. Still, she saw nothing but black blankness. "Star the telescopes broken! I can't see a thing!"

She moved over to let him try looking. He recoiled in shock. "Impossible, no more than an hour ago was I able to see the stars! What could possibly have happened!?" He flew up to the frame of the mechanism, checking the exposed mirrors for any signs of blockage. He landed. "I don't understand…unless…" He checked the eyepiece to find it was covered by a lens cap he put there earlier. He smoothed back his already backwardly smoothed mane. "ID-10T error…"

"What's that?"

"Oh, never mind, Derpy, you should be able to see a star now."

Now that she could look successfully, she peered into the telescope. She gasped, what was in the field of view was a burning white ball. It sent solar flares outwards, as if trying to engulf her in a hug. "It's really pretty!"

"That's Hydrous X-19R. I found it after noticing unusual orbits in the surrounding stars", he explained. Using the list of coordinates he hung near the fine tuning dials of the telescopes, he readjusted it. "You should now be seeing the blue dwarf Terbium 89-2H. I recently calculated that it is the twin star of Terbium 89-2E using infrared readings from the Manehattan Observatory and the Amblesburg Radio Telescope. Apparently some three billion years ago the star split when a nearby star went supernova, creating the two stars we see now."

Derpy listened with great interest to his lectures. She understood a lot of it since he explained each part in detail at some point in her visits. Star Gazer had the voice many university professors longed to have: strong, soft, and definite. She could listen to him for hours, which she ended up doing along with seeing hundreds of stars. The only thing that stopped the sightseeing of the universe was their local star, which Celestia rose three minutes early.

"The night is never long enough", said Star over the sounds of the observatory's closing ceiling.

Derpy didn't respond, for she was too busy yawning. She slept the whole day just so she could make the late delivery and stay over, yet the morning always required her to need more oxygen. She donned her mailbag. "I'll see ya later, Star!"

"Derpy, wait!" the colt called suddenly.

She paused in takeoff to listen to what he had to say. He cleared his throat. "I'm currently waiting on a very important package from Cloudsdale. It should arrive in Ponyville tomorrow evening…I trust only you to bring it here. The other mailmares don't seemed to regard anything marked 'fragile', and everything you bring to me is in the most excellent conditions. Will you please bring it?"

Derpy was filled to the brim with the sense of importance. She nodded breathlessly. "I'll be here no problem!" There was nothing further for either of them to say, so she flew out of the window from where she had come in. She was so happy she barely noticed hitting her head on the way out. All that she knew was that she was going to come back soon.

**So this is the reason the update for Kindness is the Cure is delayed. It was getting hard writing for the same story over and over again because it felt like I was over using phrases. I was honestly starting to become stressed out to the point of losing my creative edge, which writing this new story gave back to me.**

**Trivia:**

**Star Gazer has only been in development for about six months, though his concept came far longer before that. I wrote him with a split personality, as I'm sure you saw when he was alone versus in the presence of Derpy.**

**This story came about on impulse as I needed a medium for which to take a break from Kindness is the Cure. Don't worry, I plan to update them both as well as begin posting newer stories frequently, with my first story taking priority.**


	2. Morning Aftermath

Morning Aftermath

Four hours into its travel across the sky, Celestia's sun brightened the Northern Observatory with so much light that the ponies inside had to constantly shield their eyes, as much of the architecture featured more window than wall space. The family that lived there was almost completely through with brunch by the time the latest riser of the house joined them. Star Gazer yawned drowsily when he entered. His presence was mostly unnoticed until he sat down at the dining room table.

"Good morning, Gazer", greeted a violet Pegasus.

He didn't respond to his mother. The only thing on his mind was piling himself a plate full of pancakes. In order to conserve as much energy as possible, he ate in silence. The colt's eyes were almost completely closed, depicting he had stayed up until dawn once again. Seeing his zombie state, his family resumed the conversation he interrupted by smacking head-first into the large dining room door upon his entrance.

"…as I was saying", said his sister Star Dust, the only unicorn at the table, "I've received my new orders and I will be shipping out to pilot the new zeppelins in four weeks."

"Excellent", praised her father, Nova Star, "The ponies in West Fillydelphia haven't seen flying like yours! Drop their jaws, Dusty."

She blushed modestly. "Thanks, Dad."

He turned his attention to his youngest son. "Star Void, are you ready for your archery tournament?"

The little Pegasus nodded. "I'm ready to win it!"

"Good, lad!" A yawn caught his eye from down at the other end of the table. The stallion sighed heavily. Now it was time to talk with the eldest child. "Star Gazer, are you awake enough to talk to your family?"

Star swallowed abruptly. "I suppose I am now", was the grumble.

Nova cleared his throat in some attempt to trick his mind that he didn't hear the grouchiness in the colt's voice. "Have you found a guest for the Exploration Banquet?"

The younger Pegasus stopped eating. "Indeed I have. Recently."

"Do we know this pony?" his mother asked.

"No", he answered simply.

"Who could it be?" Dust asked. "You never leave the observatory, and ponies rarely ever visit."

"Except for that deliverymare who comes at night", Star Void added.

Gaze jumped, propelling his hoof through a candelabra and anything else in its path. Everypony faced him. Whatever could get him to have a reaction like that captured all their interests.

Curiously, his mother asked, "What deliverymare?"

"Derpy Hooves", Star replied, "And she's a mailmare, not a deliverymare." He grumpily stood up to leave. "If you are wondering, I will be asking her soon."

He stormed out despite the few reasons for being angry, leaving a tense atmosphere behind. Nova shook his head in futility. "Why is that colt always so irritable? What has happened to him?"

Nopony got to answer, for a crash echoed from the hallway, making it clear that the clumsy Pegasus once again failed to miss the display of the solar system at the corner of the corridor. "Why must my privacy always be subjected to questioning", he asked himself as he returned the spheres to their display. "It should be _my_ business only if I will be taking a guest to _my_ banquet."

Nothing in the area didn't seem to want to talk to him, so he returned to trotting to his room. The observatory's massive hallways echoed with his every hoofstep. Drowsiness had begun to slow him down for the second time. He thought about how his family now knew something so personal in his life. "How could Star Void have possibly have known about Derpy's deliveries? Nopony stays up as late as I do…Must they be so meddlesome? My life is my business…"

He turned to the memories of the night before with his first and what would probably be the only smile of the day. The fact that daylight was shining through the many windows of his giant, lavish home pushed him into a sort of depression he only experienced when the most well-known star in Equestria rose in the sky. With no night sky to study, he had no motivation to walk quickly to the observatory. As a matter of fact if it wasn't for the lens Derpy delivered, he would have just slept until the stars came out again.

The doors of the observation dome gave way under the little pressure he applied. Inside he found that he wasn't the only pony with things to do in there. Cleaning up the mess that Derpy accidentally made of the table near the far window was the observatory's maid, a unicorn who everypony called Dust Sweep. The clatter of putting the instruments back on the recently fixed table drowned out the hoofsteps of Star as he walked to the telescope. Unfortunately, the blazing sunlight reflecting off the extra-shiny floor made it hard for the stallion to see the mare's cleaning cart.

A deafening din destroyed the silence throughout the observatory when he made contact. Sweep sighed. Now she had to clean up her cleaning supplies. Turning around with a count to ten, she saw Star Gazer flailing to get to his hooves amidst the see of spray bottles, feather dusters, and the other things that she used to clean the many rooms of the Astronomer Clan's home. She watched him struggle to figure out the simple task of standing up, both amused and equally annoyed. Had she the time, she would have kept staring. Since she was on the clock and would rather not stay for who knew how many more hours past her shift, she levitated the colt upright to his hooves.

Awkward silence immediately filled the dome. Star Gazer gawked at her the way he did everytime they crossed paths: as if it was the first time he had ever set eyes on her. Finally, he blinked, turned, and continued on to his precious telescope. At the top of the next level, he was relieved to see everything hadn't been touched. Just the way he liked it. If Sweep had moved even the largest object just ever slightly to the left, it would had taken him days to find it again. The lens he promised himself to install in the telescope twinkled on his worktable. He snatched up the green filter and flew up to the mirrors. Held in place by several beams was the main reflecting plate, riddled with hundreds of tiny squares just like the one in his hooves. He removed one of the clear ones to make room for his green one. The care he took in doing this surpassed even Sweep's when she had to dust the exposed mirrors that made it possible for the instrument to work.

"I see you showed no mercy on the muffins last night", the unicorn called up to him on his way down. She levitated up the plate from the night before.

"I require another batch for tonight", he told her, ignoring the evidence of the muffin massacre, "Chocolate chip."

"Yes, Sir", she replied absently.

_Chocolate muffins should sway Derpy's answer…_he thought. He added in his head with a chuckle, _Although I don't think she will need any form of persuasion._

**S**

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, the very mare on the astronomer's mind burst through the doors of the town's post office. "Cheif!"

"In the back, Derpy!" he called from the sorting room.

She hopped the desk, taking a stack of evelopes with her to the other side. In the next room was her boss stacking large boxes into neat towers against the wall. She breathed heavily from her rush back from the Northern Observatory. The stacking stallion was used to it; Derpy Hooves was well-known for her quick overexcitement and fast-paced nature. When her lungs were no longer burning from the sprint home, she beamed in only a way that told all she had news. Her boss braced himself. Whatever it was couldn't even begin to cross his mind with the unpredictableness of the mare.

"There's a package going to the Northern Observatory from Cloudsdale...", she started in between last breaths of stamina recovery, "...The recipient wants me to deliver it tonight."

He rubbed his chin to aid in his decision. "Hmmm...I guess it can't be any worse than last night...And Night Flyer will be glad she won't have to fly that far on a Friday night...I don't see why you can't, nor why you would want to on your day off, but..." He crossed the room to the just-in mail. He rummaged through the yet-to-be-sorted pile of boxes and letters, until finally he pulled a box from the bottom. It was about as big as his head, though it didn't seem as remotely heavy. "Here you go, Derpy, and there's a letter here too...huh, it's addressed to you."

She took the letter first. She didn't recognize the hoofwriting, so she tore it open to find out who in Cloudsdale could have possibly sent it. The letter was blotched in ink stains. Whoever wrote it didn't seem to be able to keep a leash on their quill. She also noticed the slight rips and the shabby condition of the paper. It was almost like she wrote it, except that it was in much nicer condition. Figuring that she had judged the letter enough by its appearance, she read it.

_Derpy Hooves,_

_If my calculations are correct, and I have no reason to doubt them, you are reading this at 11:23 in the morning after your last visit._

She paused to glance at the clock. The second her better eye settled on it the fastest hand landed on twelve. The hour hand rested on eleven, and the minute hand just in between five and six. She blinked in surprise, then started again on the letter.

_I trust that you have gotten home safe. Those dastardly winds are nothing for a Pegasus to toy with. I write to you because if I had forgoten to tell you, I would like to request you deliver an important package arriving in Ponyville from Cloudsdale. I trust no other pony but you to bring it to me. I request that you deliver it no sooner than ten o' clock tonight._

_Hope to see you again,_

_Star Gazer_

_P.S.: Please excuse the mispellings and ink blots. I am used to mapping stars on a large chart, not writing letters to ponies._

The letter might have been a simple reminder, but Derpy couldn't help but giggle giddily at the fact he made sure she would return the next night. She folded the letter and grabbed up the light parcel. "I'm putting this in my cubby, Chief. For safe keeping!"

He waved her goodbye. "I'll see you tonight, Derpy!"

When the package was placed in the small box that all of the mail carriers of Ponyville used to quickly get their workload and head out, she left her place of work. Outside, the town was just beginning to wake up. Only a few ponies had gotten their carts set up for the day of selling on Stirrup Street. With a whole day of nothing to do ahead of her, the Pegasus took to the sky. Or that's what she intended to do. She started flapping early and instead of clearing the small aluminum overhang of the post office, she nearly went through it. Derpy fell to the ground with a brand new headache. She clutched the pain-stricken area with all over her might in hopes that the pressure would make the pain go away.

A passing pony saw what went down-mainly her-and rushed to help. "Hey, you alright?!" She looked up and found Sugarcube Corner's newest part-time worker looking down at her. He blew his mane out of his eyes.

She nodded with a blush. It was one thing to hurt herself in front of a pony she knew very well, but a complete different thing to embarrass herself in front of a stallion who had been living in Ponyville for only a couple of months. She heard him sigh, but didn't look up again. In the back of her head she wanted him to go away, something that wasn't about to happen. The mare remained on the ground. Maybe if she ignored him he would lose interest. That's when he stuck his hoof into her field of view of the ground.

"Come on", he said brightly, "As my marefriend says, 'What's the point of falling if you don't get back up?'"

His perfect impression of Pinkie Pie snatched Derpy's attention from the ground back to his smiling face. She felt significatly better knowing that this unicorn had a marefriend, although she couldn't figure out why. Pushing the thought aside, she accepted his hoof and let him pull her back to her hooves. He examined the part of her head she used to attack the overhang.

"Yep, that's a red spot alright. Not like a tomato, more like a...underripe tomato. Lucky ya don't have a knot. That'd be a major bummer."

"...Thanks Strings", Derpy managed to say. Her embarrassment melted away pretty quickly after that. He was the only one left that saw her accident, so now she didn't have a reason to be red-faced.

"What do ya say to a bowl of ice cream, Derpy? On the house."

Anypony would have accepted the offer to free ice cream in a heartbeat, but Derpy hesitated. She tried to get her lazy eye to focus on Strings, but it ultimately drifted to a family of squirells in a nearby tree. "...Why?"

"Ice cream makes everything more awesome. Kinda thought you might want some after meeting the ceiling."

The hesitation refused to move out. That feeling she had before came back full force. She shook her head. "No thanks, I gotta get going!"

Strings watched her fly off in a hurry. "Okay…that was pretty weird."

Derpy didn't slow down until after she knew he could no longer see her. She never felt so uncomfortable like that before. Especially not when somepony was offering her ice cream. She shrugged it off as how tired she was. A glance at the clock hanging from Clockwork's Gears told her she still had more than seven hours to burn before being able to go back to the Northern Observatory. It would have just been easier to get Star's package now and fly it there now, but he did say he wanted it after ten. When she thought about, she wouldn't be able to see the stars anyway, so she resolved to aimlessly flying around Ponyville in boredom.

That soon proved, well, boring. A yawn escaped her mouth, giving her an idea amidst removing herself from a cloud she carelessly forgot to miss. Using the same cloud that just hindered her flight path, she made herself comfortable on top, and promptly fell asleep.

**S**

Back with Star Gazer, the stallion worked through the annoying daylight on his telescope. "Insufferable lens! Luna, how could such a small addition to the lens plate possibly upset the calibration so much?" He turned his large wrench another twelfth of a turn. He wiped away some of the grease from his hooves. "There, now let's find whether or not that did the trick." On his way back to the telescope's chair, he accidentally kicked with all of his might his steel toolbox. He fell over in pain. "Oh, to hay with it all!" he lividly screamed. The shouts echoed around the dome for a few seconds, leaving him to rub away as much of the stinging in his stubbed hoof as he could.

Down the hall his father heard him cursing his luck for all he was worth. The stallion shook his head. "I really need to have a talk with him…" Forgetting his lunch of a very intricately crafted sandwich, he started for the largest room in the observatory. The inside was quiet despite being yelled at only moments ago. Apparently the walls had no comebacks for the torrent of insults. Nova Star chuckled at the fact that he had the same speechless trait when it came to his son.

Speaking of the Pegasus, he didn't see Star Gazer anywhere. Usually he was tinkering with the telescope in some way or another. However, he was nowhere in sight. Nova climbed the stairs to the upper level, where the sounds of a ratchet rattled through the metal frame. He followed them to a pair of hooves jutting out from a small gap in between the telescope and the floor it pivoted on. He stooped down to see his son, ratchet in both hooves and a mirror in his mouth to reflect light up to the bolts he turned with all of his Pegasus might. Nova slid under with him. Having built the telescope himself, he knew even more about it than Star did. At first he was ignored, but that was only until he grabbed a ratchet too and began to work alongside the grouchy pony.

He didn't receive any complaints. If there was one thing Star Gazer ever respected his father for, it was how much more skilled at working the tools of construction than he was. "Star Gazer", he said after a good twenty turns.

"Yes?"

"I would like to talk to you about your banquet."

Star stopped working. "What about it?"

"I don't know why it is such a sensitive subject for you, but it seems that—"

"I would rather keep all of the details to myself?"

"Well, yes. Why so much secrecy?"

"I feel my privacy is invaded", Star answered simply.

Nova chuckled. "Is that all? Haha! I must be getting paranoid in my old age!"

Star grinned for his father. That took his attention away from his hooves. The ratchet slipped from his hooves and dropped right to his face. Luckily his father saw and caught it just before diagnosing the colt with a bloody nose.

"See? Your old man still cares about you."

"I never once doubted you did."

"Then why so much attitude towards everypony?"

Star adjust his glasses, turned back to the top of the gap, and fell silent. The atmosphere tensed up again. The older Pegasus sighed to himself. "Okay, then would you tell me about this…Derpy Hooves, was it?"

"She delivers all of my telescope parts that arrive in Ponyville. She's the only mailmare I have ever trusted. She spends nights here and I show her stars and planets and the like while educating her on astronomy."

Nova couldn't see Star's blush, but could almost feel it through the way he talked about the mare. "And you're sure she will accept your invitation."

He nodded with a smile. "After what she is delivering tonight, she will have no choice but to say 'yes'."

**Pretty eventful for a mainly characterization chapter. Plenty of plot stuff too I think definitely maybe.**

**I promised on Twitter yesterday that this chapter would be up last night, but I had a small crisis to deal with and couldn't get the last few words written before passing out from taekwondo.**

**Also, today's my birthday, so why not publish something today? Maybe a nice review would do for a nice present? Hint hint, heheh.**

**Trivia:**

**Star Gazer was first a quiet pony who kept to himself, but now that I developed more, he's become a Pegasus with an attitude for some reason.**

**Derpy Hooves is one character that I love to write for, especially in her moments of clumsiness.**

**We see Strings in this chapter today because he is the first OC of my Colt Six to meet Derpy.**


	3. A Clumsy Invitation

A Clumsy Invitation

Noon over Ponyville eventually fell into the dim hours of evening. As if she possessed an internal timer, Derpy Hooves jerked herself out of sleep the moment Princess Luna's moon broke the horizon. She yawned what little drowsiness remained after her six-hour long nap. In the sky to help the moon through its nightly shift shined the stars through the violet velvet. Crickets chirped a lullaby for the sleepy ponyfolk, almost working their magic on Derpy, who fought the urge to lie back down on the cloud and resume her sleep.

The mare stretched her still-frozen muscles out and fell to the ground. She opened her wings and moved into a gentle glide above the ground. With nopony out to block her path to the post office, Derpy had nothing other than the odd daisy to block her path. As her awareness came back more and more with every passing moment, she let her excitement fill up her chest cavity until her heart was rushing as fast as the thoughts in her head spun.

Anypony who might have been watching the Ponyville streets would have seen her flip and twist in happiness. The post office eventually came upon her, but that didn't stop her enthusiasm. She crashed through the door, landed on her back, and slid to a stop in front of the counter. She giggled and got to her hooves. She could hear her boss still moving and sorting in the back, and decided not to disturb him. As an alternative she merely grabbed her red mail hat, her delivery satchel, and the package she was to fill it with, and winged her way back out.

This trip to the Northern Observatory was already infinitesimal compared to the last one. During her sleep, the air masses had calmed down so much that there was barely even an updraft for the Pegasus to ride to the border of the Arctic North. She climbed upwards to the higher points of the stratosphere, pushing off the high point of Town Hall for a bigger boost of altitude. Since she had left earlier than she usually did on her trips to see Star Gazer, a few flocks of birds were still out and about in search of a place to rest for the night on the migration south.

Derpy made one last check on her cargo, and, when she was sure that the featherweight parcel wasn't going anywhere, turned her wings upward like she had seen Rainbow Dash do once before. The sudden force of south-bound wind against her wings propelled her straight up to the slipstreams of the air currents. Flexing her wings outward, she giddily glided along the near-instinctive path to the Northern Observatory.

She occasionally allowed her eyes to roam the stars. Loads of peace rained down from them, especially when she thought about viewing them through Star Gazer's telescope. Thoughts of the astronomy equipment brought the mare to think about the pony who was so kind enough to permit her to use it. Usually ponies had to pay a viewing fee, no matter how prestigious they were or interested in astronomy they seemed to be. She was the only pony who wasn't family that got to see for free. It took a really good friend to let her get away without helping the observatory make operating money. And to top it off he always had muffins waiting for her!

Star was really nice to her all the time. So nice, in fact, that she kinda felt bad she never gave anything back. She mulled over what she could have done for the colt. Whatever it was had to be more meaningful than anything she had ever done for anypony. The possibilities and rejections swam throughout her head, clouding her vision as she flew along.

**S**

The large clock in the heart of the Northern Observatory chimed eight times. Its vibrations rattled through the building, stopping just short of the observation dome, just as his father designed it to. Star Gazer continued to oil the many joints of his telescope. The time was much too early to worry about his late-night visitor. Derpy's nearly-scheduled time of arrival was sometime around nine-thirty, giving him plenty of time to ensure everything would be just right when she did burst through the windows. He blindly turned to grease up a gear axel and gave the metal frame a formal introduction to the side of his head in the process. He gripped the stinging area with everything that he had, somehow resisting the urge to wake up his family with a cry of pain.

Luckily tonight he was prepared. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and eyes and plopped an ice bag down on his swelling knot. "That ought to keep you unnoticed", he huffed. His injury was more than enough of a wakeup call for him to cease working until later. At the rate his body's physical health was going, he would probably be using the suture kit he set out before the night was over, and a scar didn't set right with his stomach, especially when he was only minutes from being visited by Derpy.

"Star Gazer!" Sweep called from the observatory's door. "I finished your muffins! Double chunky chocolate chip just like you asked."

He flew across the room to her. The treats for Derpy underwent a quick quality check before Star took them. It seemed Sweep outdid herself with this particular batch. Their warm aroma that wafted from them smelled so fresh he could have easily assumed they might still be baking. He grabbed the platter and hastily turned on his hooves. Although just before he took off like he did, the Pegasus turned and politely said, "Thank you, Sweep."

She didn't get the chance to return his thanks before he flew for the top of the second level of the room. Not that the shock would have let her because that was the first and only time Star Gazer had ever shown the slightest amount of gratitude for her services. Her mouth formed a small smile. She left the room, leaving the cross thoughts that usually came up in the recesses of her mind.

Back at the opposite end of the room, Star placed the platter on his charting table, where Derpy would surely see them upon entry. He sat down in the chair he used when it was either time to relax or wait. And he had some serious waiting to do. He swiveled the chair around and inevitably collided with the floor. Though instead of getting up, he kept his chin on the floor and left reality for his thoughts. Mainly he reflected on the preparations he made for the night. He kept the lights dim so as to set a peaceful atmosphere that not even his precious night sky could match. To go along with the muffins, Star chilled a glass jug of milk in a large pale of ice. He loved the beverage with his baked goods and hoped that Derpy wouldn't be far off in his interest. The next thing he studied was the extra padding he added to the telescope's chair. Having tested it, Star knew that Derpy would be more than comfortable viewing what the universe had in store for her.

There was only one thing that he hadn't planned for. It was something so simple that the ditzy-yet-very-intelligent stallion looked right over. As his eyelids fell over his eyes, Star Gazer knew exactly what it was. He calculated that in the last forty-eight hours, he had only gotten thirty minutes of sleep! The sudden realization kicked the Pegasus's wings into third gear, shooting him right to the ceiling. "Oh, Luna! Sweet, merciful Princess Luna please allow me just a few more hours of consciousness!"

He dropped to the floor, as if somepony suddenly dropped ten-ton weights to his hooves. The pony struggled to drag himself across the floor to the observatory's door. If luck was to befall him, then he would have just enough time to make a pot of coffee for a last-ditch attempt to stay awake. Slowly, his body gained weight under the failure of his strained, adrenaline-starved muscles, and with every throw of himself to get even a few feet farther. After agonizing, drowsy mental hours, he reached the door, but it wasn't enough. His hooves slid right down to the floor everytime he tried to push the large door open.

It looked over for the desperate colt. That was pretty much fate's decided case for him until he saw what lie on the floor in front of the door with him. His weary eyes barely made out the outline of a tall and rather heavy-duty thermos. As quickly as he could, Star pried the lid from the warm container and chugged whatever was on the inside. Somepony threw him a bone; what swished around in the thermos was the strongest quadruple shot of cappuccino he had ever let enter his system. His awareness turned a five-twenty so fast a caffeine buzz rocked his whole body. Star looked immediately found himself on all four hooves. He licked the drying mass of pure energy from his lips. Whoever made it knew how to make it taste even better than it smelled.

His eye caught something stuck to the side of half-empty cylinder. "Oh? A note? Hmm…" He read it several times before his mind slowed down enough for his eyes to fully decode the hoofwriting. "'Star Gazer, Dad.'"

He smiled. The abruptness of his father's note was just like the older stallion: meaningful and silly with custom hints of sternness. "Thank you…Daddy…" he sighed.

Those words, especially that last one, would never in a million years have ever left the astronomer's mouth had he known that the very pony who he thanked stood on the other side of the door, listening. Hearing that his son still loved him, the Pegasus left for his room. "You're welcome, Starry."

Now that his heart had been kicked with enough juice to put a defibrillator out of business, Star Gazer studied the charts he mapped out for Derpy. "I do hope my predictions are accurate…I myself have only seen these new specimens once or twice…Perhaps I should have come up with a contingency plan…"

He continued to sip his cappuccino while he waited, which would be sooner than he first thought…

**S**

Derpy Hooves closed in on the Northern Observatory. For some reason the whole dome was faintly lit tonight, however that didn't deter the mailmare one bit. She streamed for a window left open for her and when she got close, tucked her wings in for a better clearance. Derpy shot through the gap faster than she anticipated, and was helpless to whatever gravity had planned for her. She shut her eyes before meeting the solid, marble floor, and was surprised to land on something softer than the least dense cloud to come out of Cloudsdale. She slid across the room and to a gentle stop against a pie of pillows.

Her eyes opened to see she was lying on a fleece blanket, folded in half just for her landing. Derpy pushed herself to her hooves. She made sure her mail cap was still atop her head and gazed around for the Pegasus she came to see and deliver too. Her gaze met his smiling face when she scanned the second level.

"Evening, Derpy", he greeted warmly, "Your trip was enjoyable I hope?"

She nodded. "Best weather in weeks!"

"Wonderful to hear!"

He flew down to her, and she brought out his package. "Right on time, as promised!"

The next thing he did surprised her. Every other time Derpy delivered to Star Gazer, the colt would almost immediately tear it open to see his delivery. This time when he took it from her all he did was place it on the table she caused to collapse the night before. No sooner did its thud against the table echo throughout the room was Derpy's left hoof in both of his, tugging her along to the second level.

Whoever this pony was took Star Gazer's looks and replaced his personality with somepony who was sort of like Pinkie Pie on a lazy day! She gave into his tugging, and in seconds was joining him on the higher platform. At that point the stallion realized the difference in himself and smoothed back his mane to calm down. He adjusted his glasses and more normally guided her to the telescope's chair.

"I've recently located the presence of various new celestial bodies. You will see there aren't so many stars to gaze upon as usual, but I would like to think that you'll be fascinated nonetheless…"

Derpy wasn't presently concerned with the telescope. She snuggled deeper into the chair's new cushion. "This new chair's really soft."

"The old one was too worn for any further service", Star explained on the border of fibbing. "So I had the throne outfitted with newer padding. Shall we get started on tonight's tour of the universe?"

She nodded anxiously. "I can't wait!"

"You'll be happy to know that the lens filter you delivered last night has opened up hundreds of new possible sights for my telescope. The first is this." He removed the lens cover.

Derpy blinked at what she saw. It was a group of stars so intricately lined up that it looked like a lens flare in a camera photo. "So pretty…"

"You should remember the screen of nitrogen that blocked the view of my telescope from observing anything farther out than Sagimarious A. The filter allows our view passage through this and here we see fifteen newly mapped stars. I've nicknamed the cluster 'Hydrogen Highway', made up of stars XD—9-24. These are recently born stars, in the prime of foalhood at five million years old of Secretariat's Nebula." Twisting the fine tuning dials, he continued the lecture. "I have only been studying this for the total time of an hour, but I would like to concur that this dust cloud is what remains of a solar storm brewed up by Hydrogen Highway's unique solar winds some ten thousand years ago."

Derpy's view panned left until it stopped on thin, powdery-like cloud of gold. She cocked her head to the side in thought. "Do you think…?" The mare's voice trailed off with uncertainty.

"Yes?" Star leaned forward intensely. The last thing he wanted to do was miss Derpy putting forth her input for the first time since he'd known her.

If it wasn't for the growing anticipation in his voice, she would have just let the silence carry on until its awkwardness dragged it into the abyss of continuing, but Star sounded like he really, really wanted to hear what she had to say, so she said, "…the varying sizes of the stars caused a...an irregular orbit of the nitrogen particles, leading to a superheating?"

Star Gazer's glasses shot from his face to reveal how impressed he was. "That makes so much sense! Especially considering the ion charge levels between the stars! What led to your hypothesis?"

The red supernovae stuck to her cheeks stopped the Pegasus from answering outright. The embarrassment was so great she turned her head away from him to reduce the burning of her face. That didn't keep her from feeling his patience for her to reply. Eventually the feeling of obligation to tell him overpowered her guilt glands. "I read your books about photonic interference", she murmured just loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm flattered you would indulge your time in my work", he told her. All this time Star Gazer took Derpy Hooves for the type of astronomer that was in it only for the view. The newfound respect he had for her total interest in the science was astronomical. From that point forward, Star could never look upon the mare without knowing they shared a true love for the night sky. "We should study together soon. For now, though, let's continue our exhibition through the stars."

The stallion turned the observatory around and showed her everything that he found for her over the past few nights. He tried his best to explain the barely observed black holes and other astronomy phenomena. Among her favorites were the pink gaseous clouds passing through the magnetic fields of the Milky Way, a bright group of planets orbiting a star like the sub particles of an atom, and twin comets orbiting a solar system side by side. They were both so engrossed in looking up at the sky that time slipped away from them. Only when the clock rang two o'clock did Star Gazer remember exactly why he planned Derpy's visit.

He pulled away from his tuning dials. "Derpy, would you like a muffin?" He really didn't even need to ask. Derpy was out of the chair and stuffing her mouth full of the chocolate muffins faster than he could blink. Seeing her so happy made him smile. _I suppose now would be the time…_

The mailmare was too absorbed in practically absorbing the muffins to notice her friend lift the box she gave him hours ago from its place next to her muffin platter. "Did you happen to be wondering what you delivered to me tonight, Derpy?"

"Ah trahd figrin awt what it was", she said with her mouth full of muffin. She gulped down as much of the treat as she could. "It's too light to be an astronomy instrument, that's all I know."

He tore the parcel wrapping from it and opened the box underneath. Derpy peered inside to find a second box. She frowned in confusion. "You wanted a box?"

Star chuckled. He took the box out of its box and held it out to her. "Look at the tag."

Derpy turned her head on its side to get level with the label. "From: Star Gazer, To: Derpy Hooves?"

He nodded. "I wanted to be present when you opened it, so I had you deliver it to me to give to you."

She placed it back on the table and untied the bow holding the lid to it. Her lungs expanded twice their normal size when she saw what awaited inside. It was an emerald green dress. Moons and stars were shaped by sewing sapphires and fire opals into the fabric. Its white, fluffy trim glowed in the dim light of the observatory and almost looked like it held tiny galaxies within it.

"Do you like it? I had Rarity and Linen Fiber make it, so there's a small piece of Ponyville in it."

She hugged it close, obviously more than grateful. "Why?"

"Two reasons", he said, "The first for being the only pony who will bother to talk to me despite my attitude and consequently becoming my best friend, and the second because there is a banquet my family is holding Thursday night. I would like to take you, that is, if you will accept my invitation."

Derpy couldn't believe her luck! Just several hours ago she was considering options to repay Star that couldn't even touch this, and now she had the perfect opportunity to make him happy! She looked into his hopeful face and nodded. "I'll go with you, Star."

**Awwwww, this was so sweet! Wooooooo! I managed to update in the same week! So happy!**

**Happy Thanksgiving!**

**Trivia:**

**The Northern Observatory is the largest in the northeastern region of Equestria. It was almost dwarfed by the Crystal Empire by a new type of telescope, but funding ran out before completion and was unable to break the record.**

**Derpy grabbed her mail cap this time out of habit. I wanted to work a little dialogue into the chapter about it, but couldn't find a good spot to place it.**


	4. Lighting the Night

Lighting the Night

Luna's moon rose and set four times since Derpy left the Northern Observatory after accepting Star Gazer's invitation to his banquet. That gave both ponies plenty of time to prepare. The astronomer spent his time correcting and criticizing his father's arrangements for the banquet, subsequently driving the older stallion crazy. For Derpy Hooves, getting ready for the big night waited a couple of days. At first, she figured the only thing she had to do was get dressed up. That was the case until she made the mistake of stopping by the Carousel Boutique after her delivery shift to compliment Rarity and Linen Fiber on the dress Star commissioned for her.

The bell rang upon her entrance, prompting the seamstress and her assistant to simultaneously turn from their work to greet the boutique's newest guest. Upon seeing the mailmare both stopped the usual greeting they gave most customers.

"Derpy! What a surprise!" Linen Fiber, the stallion who had been occupying the workspace alongside Rarity for the past few months. "What could have possibly have brought you here? Are you looking for a dress or perhaps a sunhat for the upcoming heightened UV indexes ahead?"

"I already have a dress, remember?"

Linen and Rarity exchanged confused glances. "Err, Derpy, I don't recall fashioning you an ensemble recently", said the white mare.

Derpy cocked her head to the side. They made the dress for her, didn't they? And it couldn't have been that long ago. Why didn't they remember? "But Star Gazer—" the statement caught in her throat. Now it made sense. They didn't make the dress for her, they made it for Star Gazer, the pony who placed the order.

"Star Gazer?" Linen shifted his weight. "The pony from the Northern Observatory? He did stop by last week to have a dress made…"

"Ah, now I am no longer confused. Derpy, did Star order that dress to give to you? Oh, how sweet? He surely felt you deserved some sort of gift for all of your visits. A stallion who remains conscious almost indefinitely must love the company."

"He invited me to a banquet tonight, and—"

"A BANQUET!?" the unicorns exclaimed.

The Pegasus nodded. "Mmmhmm, that's why he ordered the dress."

"How are you wearing your mane?" Rarity asked anxiously.

"Have you considered jewelry?" Linen questioned right after.

The two advanced on Derpy, who grew more and more scared of them as their grins grew to unnatural sizes. "I was just going to wear the dress."

"To a formal occasion?" Rarity deadpanned. "You want to look your absolute best for Star Gazer, don't you?"

Derpy didn't have a ready answer. She thought that all she needed to do was just show up in the dress. That's what she did whenever else there was a formal event in Ponyville. Nopony made a fuss about it then. She frowned, "I thought that I already look my best."

They backed off a little. "You do", Rarity said, "What we mean is…that this is a special event."

"And that you should look special for it. Maybe look in such a way to…hoohoo, knock the glasses right off of his nose."

"Why would I want to do that?" Derpy really didn't think assaulting the poor stallion was going to win her any favors. "But he's a nice pony. I don't want to hurt him."

"Perhaps we should cease the figurative language, Linen, dear."

"Agreed. Derpy, what the two of us are trying to tell you is this: Banquets are quite usually the epitome of formal events. We want to help you avoid rather nasty looks and any embarrassing situations by offering to help you look as best as you possibly can, without overelaboration."

"Oh, okay!" Derpy smiled. Now the two crazy ponies were talking in her language.

And so began the slow process of transforming Derpy Hooves into a pony who would easily have a way with the stallions. Meanwhile, about sixty miles north of the boutique, Star Gazer was worrying himself as well as ten other ponies sick with his eye for detail and itch for perfection.

"No, no", he told a unicorn setting out the refreshments table, "These are to be placed near the stairwell of the telescope. We surely cannot have ponies stuffing themselves upon entry."

The unicorn rolled his eyes. While he moved the table to the desired location, Star Gazer turned his attention to the pair of Pegasi hanging decorations.

"Star Gazer", called his father from the door before his son could start harassing anypony else.

"Yes, father?"

"Why don't you let those ponies do what we've paid them to do and relax with the family?"

"I'm afraid I will be rejecting your offer. This particular group of 'decorators', if they can be called that are ruining my intricate—"

The older stallion grabbed Star by the wing. "I'm no longer asking, Son."

A collective sigh echoed around the observation room over the sounds of protest as Nova Star dragged his son away. The halls of the observatory filled with the cries of the weaker pony over the tightening grip of his father. From their places in the great room of the enormous building, Star's family heard the missing members slowly get louder upon arrival.

"I demand you release me, at once!"

"Master's orders."

Nova Star casually tossed the smaller Pegasus Pony over the railing of the higher deck of the room. Flapping frantically, Gazer fell like a rock to one of the couches below. He kicked around until he managed to sit up right. Around the room his siblings and mother laughed at him.

"Nice of you to join us", said Star Dust. "Did you enjoy the trip?"

"He was just in time for fall", giggled his mother.

He grumbled loudly, crossing his hooves with a flip of his mane. "How long must I be subjected to socializing?"

Nova landed beside him. "Get used to it."

"Yeah, the Astronomical Association is sponsoring a banquet in your honor. You'll have no choice but to meet other ponies and talk to them for the duration."

"Forgive me, mother, but I never asked for them to do this."

"It's not every day that a new, supercharged ionic nebula is discovered as well as its distance from the nearest galaxy and neutronic weight."

Star turned to his brother. "Star Void, how did you manage to get your hooves on my notes?"

The little colt blushed. "You…you've been using the same combination to your safe for the past six weeks…"

Speaking of brothers, Star forgot all about the family's youngest member knowing how to get into his most secure keepsake place to remember a crucial detail of the banquet's guest list. "Will Soarin be attending tonight, as well?"

Nova inhaled nervously. "I'm afraid your brother can't make it out of Manehattan tonight."

"Figures." Star sat back. "It seems he is growing further and further away from this family with each passing night."

"So you understand why we are so worried about you", his father assumed.

"Please don't think that I will leave you as he has."

"We can't help it. It's almost like you hate us lately", Star Dust stated.

"Hate you?"

His mother adjusted uncomfortably in her seat. "Yes, with the way you lock yourself in the observation room, and your constant snapping at everypony…"

"Not to mention you go out of your way to avoid everypony."

The stallion's gaze roamed his family's faces. All of them wore looks of concern for him. In an attempt to wrap his head around what they were saying, Star grabbed his face and shook his head back and forth. Was his pursuit of stars and galaxies and the known universe getting in the way of the rest of his life that much? He knew he wasn't exactly the nicest pony in the Equestria, but had he come to subconsciously hate the world? No. That's what he thought. His night life couldn't possibly get in the way of what happened during the day. _What gives them the right to take that away from me?_

He stood. "I'm sorry, but I will not be giving up my life's long work."

"We're not trying to…" His mother was too late; he was already flying back up to the balcony of the room.

"We almost got to him", his father sighed. "Maybe next time."

"Maybe", Dusty repeated, "Or maybe we just need to recruit a little help."

"'A little help'?" Nova asked.

Star Void finally broke his silence. "Like who?"

"Like a certain mailmare he was talking about a couple of days ago", she stated with certainty.

**S**

Back at the Carousel Boutique, Derpy felt a tickle in her nose. She tried to ignore it; if she sneezed now, she would have the most embarrassing accident with a mascara wand to date. The tickle soon turned into a tingle, and was starting to make her eyes water. "Uh, Rarity?"

"Just a moment, Derpy. I'm almost finished."

"A…a…ACHOO!" The gray mare shot forward with involuntary movement, which drove the wand, and the pitch black mascara, across her face, leaving a streak of the makeup behind. "Sorry, Rarity…"

"It's quite alright", Rarity assured. The unicorn's horn glowed with a prepared spell. Derpy's cheek and nose warmed as the magic erased the mistake from her face. "There, now we don't have to start over again."

"Rarity!" rang Linen from the room adjacent to them. "I have returned with the flowers you've requested!"

"In here, Linen!"

"Rose was a doll today."

"Oh, was she now?"

Linen set the basket he carried in on the table next to the mares. "Indeed. I had just managed to catch her as she was taking her stand down for the day and she was still willing to give me her time to sell me the bouquet."

"Flowers?"

"One for your corsage and one for Star Gazer's boutonniere. Just in case he forgets." Rarity levitated the basket up for them to see. Now, which will go best with your ensemble? Hmm…a zinnia, the green rose, orchid, or carnation?"

"Why not a marigold?" suggested Linen. "So that it won't too closely resemble the color of her dress."

Rarity held the flower up to Derpy's ear. It was just big enough to cover half. "Perfect!"

"_Parfait_!" Linen echoed in Ancient Equine.

"What about his bout…bouten…his flower?" Derpy asked.

"A flowering marigold of course", Rarity answered, "You wouldn't want to go mismatched would you?"

Derpy shook her head slightly. "Nope!"

"Now that we've finished your makeup…" Rarity waved Linen over. "We can move on to your mane."

Derpy looked from Rarity, who stepped back, to Linen, whose grin matched the size of the sunflower he brought in the bouquet. She cocked her head to the side. The stallion nodded. "I will be taking over that part of your preparation. I've always wanted to style a mare's mane. Unfortunately, Rarity will not let me near hers."

"For a pony who has never even cut his own mane, I cannot trust you with another's let alone my own."

He rolled his eyes. "Moving away from faith issues, how should we go about this? I was thinking a fancy ponytail. That way it can remain simple as well as elegant."

Derpy didn't think that was a bad idea. At least it wouldn't be very painful. Linen levitated up several instruments with which to work on her hair when she nodded in agreement. The Pegasus sat still as Linen brushed her mane down. He worked diligently, occasionally asking her a question about how she wanted it put up. She hadn't had her mane styled in a long time, so it was sort of nice to have somepony put so much attention into it.

By the time her golden mane was finished, Celestia's sun had begun to sink below the horizon. Luckily for her, Ponyville participated in daylight savings. She still had two hours to make it the border of the Arctic North.

"Thank you so much", she told the two of them on her way out.

"The pleasure was all ours", Rarity replied.

"Now in return for our help, go enjoy your evening with that astronomer", Linen called from behind the white unicorn.

Derpy's cheeks flushed, and she smiled widely. "I will!" Rarity watched her wave them goodbye, turn, and head for home. The stars above shone down upon the mare, and together with the streetlamps, lit the gray Pegasus's way. Now that she was on the final stretch she finally felt excited about the whole thing. At first she had no clue what a big deal this was. Seeing how Linen and Rarity treated the situation, she now thought that whatever a banquet was, it meant something huge.

She looked up to the stars she loved so much and hoped that she wouldn't do anything to goof up the banquet. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was ruin Star Gazer's night. A chill ran down her spine. What was she thinking?! "I always ruin things…"

**S**

That stuck in the back of her head and ate at her the whole way to the observatory. The south winds gently carried her to the cloud-bearing skies, although the peaceful atmosphere did little to carry her spirits. The closer she got to her destination piled a little more fear on top of the pile. The trees passing under her offered no comfort, standing silent, almost reaching up to her for help, not the other way around.

As much as she tried to ignore it, her anxiety wouldn't go away. It seemed more than bent on trying to ruin her night before it even began. The only thing she was thankful for at the moment was how the winds weren't strong enough to blow her out of the sky. Focusing on that, Derpy managed to get her wings to cooperate and get her higher into the sky, where the gap between air masses suspended her effortlessly.

Derpy felt strange for heading to the observatory so early in the night. Usually it wasn't until ten when she left Ponyville, and now she found herself heading there with hints of sunlight disappearing in the western part of the sky. To add to the strangeness were a few birds hurrying home to their nests for the night. When she looked real hard, Derpy swore she saw an Ursa Minor still about among the roots of the trees. Taking in the sights proved to be a time-passing task because it wasn't much longer after she looked up when the Northern Observatory stood out like a candle in the distance.

Every lantern and chandelier in that place must have been lit; Derpy could see it more clearly now with her better eye so far away than six feet away with both eyes. She began her descent, turning her wings in slightly to change her usual route from the windows of the observation room to the front door, where, as she got closer, she could see ponies entering. She landed with enough distance between her and the other guests to be completely out of sight. Checking she still carried Star's boutonniere in her hooves, she quickly assessed herself. Her dress needed a quick smoothing from the flight, but at least her mane suffered no obvious damage.

The mare took a deep breath before making her way to the door. Hopefully Princess Luna wouldn't let her mess too much up. A fancily-dressed usher at the entrance stopped her from going in.

"Name, please."

"Derpy Hooves!" she exclaimed anxiously.

Ignoring the volume of her voice, the Earth Pony ran his hoof down the list on his podium. "Hmm…Ah! Right here! VIP? Well, then I'm happy to welcome you to this fine occasion, Miss Hooves. If you just go straight through this hall and take a left at the end you'll find the observation room no problem!"

"Thanks!" It was a good thing she got directions. Derpy had never gone in through the front door before. Not even on her first visit. It had always been one of the windows of the telescope room. The ponies lingering in the hallway turned their heads as she trotted by. The attention heated up the back of her head with embarrassment. She really hoped they weren't staring at her lazy eye. If they started whispering it would be school all over again.

"Excuse me", said a polite voice behind her.

Derpy reluctantly turned to face whoever wanted her attention. She braced herself for whatever probing question or insult came. Instead of finding a look of disgust on a pink unicorn's face, she found a warm smile. "Are you Derpy Hooves?"

She nodded slowly. "Uh huh!"

"Great! I've been expecting you since we opened the doors!"

Derpy frowned. Who else besides Star Gazer knew she was coming?

"Oh, sorry", the unicorn laughed, "My name is Star Dust. I'm Star Gazer's little sister."

"Sister?"

"I guess he doesn't really talk about me much, huh?"

Derpy shook her head. "Just stars."

She looked to the ceiling. "That figures, knowing him. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Derpy."

"Same here!"

Dusty stepped forth. "Let's get going. The rest of the family wants to meet you, too."

"'Rest of the family'?"

"Yep, there's Star Void, our youngest brother, our mom Star Shine, and our dad, Nova Star. Soarin, my oldest brother, would be here too, but he's stuck outta town."

"He's in Manehattan, right?"

"You must be a Wonderbolts fan, huh?"

Derpy shook her head. "No, but my friend Rainbow Dash is."

"Ah."

They turned the corner at the end of the hall and was greeted by the brightly lit observation room. Instant awe gripped Derpy hooves. She never saw it with so much light before! Tables, banners, and other celebratory things decorated large room. In the back she saw that the telescope was covered with large dust guards. She felt sort of sad to see the big piece of equipment wasn't going to be used tonight; however, she quickly forgot about it when Dusty guided her to a large table at the center of the others. Sitting at this round table was a deep blue Pegasus of six or seven, an older, magenta Pegasus, and a snow white stallion with a gold mane. Derpy was no detective by far, but she had a feeling that these ponies were Star's family.

The white Pegasus stood. "You must be Derpy Hooves! I'm Nova Star, Star Gazer's father. This is my wife, Star Shine, and that is my youngest son Star Void."

Shine stood and extended her hoof. "How do you do, Derpy?"

"I'm fine!"

"Wonderful!"

Star Void, who was preoccupied with something on the other side of the room, didn't say anything. Seeing the blank expression in his focused face reminded Derpy of Star Gazer, who she saw nowhere around.

"Star Gazer's off talking to the founders of the Astronomical Association", Nova explained at the sight of her roaming eyes. "He'll be here any minute."

"In the meantime, why don't we become better acquainted?" Star Shine suggested.

Derpy sat, having no idea Star was no more than a hundred feet away, bored out of his mind. He dared not to even so much as roll his eyes. He had to remain on his best behavior, otherwise he would receive the worst of all punishments. The Pegasus nodded genuinely at what one of the founders told him. "I agree. Black holes definitely are a spectacle to behold, although they are not much of a sight. I've found what lies inside of them to of more interest."

A mare adjusted her glasses. "Inside?"

"Well, perhaps a mere theory at this point, but I've been studying, and I believe I can soon explain how black holes do not collapse on themselves as the stars that create them do." The five members blinked in shock. "I propose that at the center of them, are white holes, opposite of black holes in every way. I theorize that white holes propel mass and energy outwards, forever locked in a stalemate with the black holes that house them."

"I-I can't begin to fathom…" said a unicorn in his seventies.

"Please do not think so far into it, yet", Star urged, "My guess is only as good as yours right now." He glanced over his shoulder at the nearest clock. "My apologies, good ponies. My guest of honor will be arriving soon. I will see you all during my speech."

One sigh of relief later, Star Gazer loosened his bowtie a little. "Now, I hope I—" A chair in the way of his hoof cut him off. He inhaled as deeply as he could to keep from giving the inanimate object a piece of his mind. "That's one. Please Luna guide my hoof away from all else tonight." He navigated through the tables again, more carefully this time, to where his family waited for his return. When he spotted them through the sea of ponies, he noticed another pony sitting with them. Her back was to him, and all he could make out from his position was her ponytail, and that was nowhere near enough detail to distinguish who was sitting in Derpy's chair.

When he got closer, he found out just how much of his mind worked when forcing a smile. That mare _was _Derpy. He facehoofed. His family got to her first. He shrugged. It couldn't have been that bad. She came, after all. Now he had a reason to smile. Star kept walking until his father pointed him. Never before had the stallion witnessed a mare spin around so quickly. And that was when his heart stopped beating.

Derpy Hooves was almost unrecognizable. Her cheeks were slightly pink with blush, her eyelashes defined with mascara, her eyelids highlighted with violet eye shadow, and her lips lightly colored with bright pink lip-gloss. Her mane held a bright yellow flower against her ear. His own cheeks flushed with redness. "Uh…hello, Derpy. I didn't expect you hear so soon."

She didn't say a thing before she hopped up from her chair and was instantly fiddling with something in her hooves. Before he could open his mouth to say something, Derpy had whatever she was fumbling out of its box and at the pocket of his coat. At that point he realized that she was forcing a pin through a boutonniere. Unfortunately for him it kept going until it pierced his shoulder. He fought back a tear for her. "…Eh, thank you, Derpy. I had completely forgotten about that."

She beamed brightly. "Welcome, Star!"

His family stared at her. Nopony ever called him by his first name alone. Nova cleared his throat to spare his son the embarrassment and inevitable questioning to come. "I trust that your chat with the founders was enlightening."

"More than I care to share." Star took his seat next to Derpy. "But now that our very important pony has arrived, I'm much more relaxed and happy."

Derpy felt her heart rise in her chest. Star, while a nice pony everytime she saw him, never really said nice things like that. She looked at him and noticed how different he was from his usual self. To start off, his cobalt mane was slicked and combed to the side rather than backwards. He didn't look half as sleep deprived as usual, and all around looked much more cheery. This new Star Gazer was a nice change, though she didn't like how neat his mane was. It was much cuter spiked back.

"Mares and gentlecolts", boomed a voice from the stage that rose in front of the telescope, "We'll be starting in a few minutes. If you would find your seats, please."

Derpy looked around with a brightening grin as the lights dimmed. She was on a roll tonight. So far at ten minutes since she arrived she hadn't messed anything up. So far so good.

**Now why would an author known for stopping like this do so once again? What evil intentions do I have?**

**I'm so happy to be writing like this again. It's so wonderful and therapeutic to say the least. And I hope I get some fine reviews for this chapter, too. You guys know I don't ask for them, but they are still nice.**

**Trivia:**

**As the only unicorn born into a family of Pegasi, Star Dust has had an obsession with flying. We already know that she flies zeppelins, but for who? Well, she happens to be a Squadron Leader for the Celestial Air Force, the only non-Pegasus to obtain such a high rank, especially for her age.**

**Nova Star has four different master's degrees in the fields of astronomy.**


End file.
